Since I started using Obsidian, I’ve always been looking to improve how I manage my files, projects and notes in one cohesive system. One breakthrough that has made an enormous difference in my project and knowledge management workflow was the discovery of folder notes.
I haven’t encountered many people making use of this tool, so I thought I’d add a piece about it. In this article, I’m going to show you the different ways you can unlock this hidden superpower in Obsidian and use them in your maps of content, tasks, projects, and outlines.
What is a folder note?
A folder note is simply a note that’s created under a folder in your vault, so that when you click on the folder, the folder note opens. The feature doesn’t come built in to Obsidian, but you can add it with a few different plugins that I’m going to cover in more detail later in the article.
The uses of folder notes
You can use folder notes in lots of different ways in Obsidian. It’s useful to add just a few lines of text to explain what the folder contains, but there are more powerful ways to make use of their function, including:
- Projects and tasks
- File indexes
- Maps of content
Projects and tasks — Folder notes are especially powerful when managing projects in Obsidian. You can use them to create an outline for the project, listing goals and outcomes, as well as tasks that you can execute to get you to those goals.
Used with the Tasks plugin, you could turn your vault into a space for managing tasks on top of your knowledge. You could do this by adding dates to tasks for projects in different folders in your notes and then using the Tasks to collect all the due tasks into one view in a fresh note.
This is the primary use of folder notes that I have in my vault. I use the PARA method of organisation, so I can manage projects that I’m currently working on. My folder notes for these projects contain a list of the notes within the folder using Dataview (more below), as well as some general notes around important parts of the project and other links to relevant notes in other locations around my vault.
This creates a one-stop place to access all the information surrounding the projects I’m working on, helping me stay organised and focused by reducing the friction of accessing information about the work that I’m doing.
File indexes — One of the more simple uses of folder notes in Obsidian is just to use the folder note to keep track of the content in the folder. You can do this by manually adding links to the folder content, but a more effective way to do this would be to use the popular Dataview plugin…
For a long time, I’ve used the following simple query in folder notes for university modules:
LIST
WHERE contains(file.folder, this.file.folder)
AND category = "lectures"
This Dataview query renders all the lecture notes from a specific module so that I can get a quick overview of the content without having to fumble around with opening different folders in my sidebar.
Maps of Content — As with indexes, the system of creating Maps of Content (MoCs) is very popular for those using elements from the Zettelkasten method of PKM in their Obsidian vault.
Similar to indexes, you can use a Dataview query to visualise all the notes in the folder. Maps of content are more complex, however, as they’re drawing links to notes across many folders, maybe your whole vault. This you have the option of adding manual links in the folder note if you think other content in your vault links relevantly to your MoC.
You don’t have to use a single Dataview query in your MoC folder note. For example, if I wanted to complete a project all about using the Zettelkasten method productively, I’d make a MoC folder note to help me out. It would contain multiple Dataview lists— one to show the notes with the tag zettelkasten
and one for those with the tag productivity
. I’d then be able to browse the two lists to draw links between different ideas on the topics that I’ve recorded in the past.
You should find that mostly, you want to prioritise one function of folder notes above the others, whichever one it may be. The next section introduces the different options you have when it comes to folder note plugins, so you know which one to pick to fit your chosen use case…
Different ways to create folder notes
There are several good plugins that bring the feature of folder notes to Obsidian. This isn’t an exhaustive list, merely the ones that I’ve tried out and liked for a mixture of different reasons:
- AidenLx’s Folder Note
- Make.md
- Folder notes
- Folder Index
They all go about creating the feature of folder notes in Obsidian slightly differently, so I’m going to outline what’s good about each one here — I’ll tell you which to pick depending upon your use case, so that you get the best out of the power of folder notes.
AidenLx’s Folder Note — This was the plugin that I first used when I came across the idea of folder notes. It’s a good starting point for those who want the basic functionality of this feature and nothing else. Used with the plugin Folder Note Core, it allows you to bind Alt-Click
or Ctrl+Click
to the creation of folder notes, as well as the ability to hide the folder note in the file tree, reducing clutter.
It has a template feature too, so that if you want your folder notes to take roughly the same format, you don’t have to type out the same thing for them again and again. The plugin will insert the folder note template for you.
You also have options for where you store folder notes in your vault, as well as how they’re named. You can either keep the folder note’s name in sync with the name of the folder, or call it something like ~Index
so that it remains at the top of the alphabetical list of files in the file tree. I prefer using the folder name, so I can use the Quick Switcher to move between folder notes with unique names extremely quickly.
You can either store the folder note inside the corresponding folder, or outside it, in the same level of the file tree. I prefer to store inside, because then I can add the Dataview prompt from above to visualise all the files found in that folder.
MAKE.md — This plugin includes other project management features with folder notes, so is good for people looking for an all-in-one tool for PARA in their vault. It turns folders into databases, or ‘Spaces’, that can visualise the folder content in one tab, in a database format, and the folder note content in the other tab.
Like AidenLx’s Folder Note plugin, you have the option of storing folder notes within or outside of the corresponding folder, but there isn’t any option for creating a folder note template.
Overall, this plugin delivers less customisation around the folder note function, but it’s worth investigating if you want a plugin that makes your life easier in many areas of Obsidian: it has an updated sidebar, search function (called Blink) and an intuitive editor experience similar to Notion.
Folder notes — This plugin is my current choice for using folder notes in Obsidian. It’s similar to AidenLx’s Folder Note plugin, but with a few added features including adding folder notes automatically and excluding folders from having a folder note created.
You can add a note in your vault that serves as a folder note template in this plugin, compared to having to input the template in the plugin settings with AidenLx’s offering. This is an improvement for me because I like to keep all of my templates in one folder, so I know where to access them for easy editing. When I store my templates in lots of different places, it starts to get confusing.
Another unique feature of this folder note plugin is that you can add an Obsidian canvas as the folder note instead of a markdown file. This is an excellent idea that caters to those who prefer laying out their content visually and drawing physical links between their notes that way.
Overall, this is a very capable plugin that I’d recommend above all others if you want a full folder note experience in Obsidian. It also appears to be under regular development, unlike some other folder note offerings.
Folder Index — This is the last plugin I’m going to be discussing in depth in this article. It does things slightly differently to the other plugins here: this one renders folder contents automatically from its own Dataview-like code block in your folder note.
There are options for automatic generation of folder notes, as well as templating. You can also customise the contents of the rendered file list. This includes the addition of headings within your notes, as well as notes found within sub-folders of the folder in question. You can choose to sort headings in a custom order, or in alphabetical order.
Another powerful feature in this plugin is the ability to overwrite the graph view so that you can view folder notes linked to their contents along with the links that you’ve manually added between different files in your vault. This has the potential to enhance your creativity because you can spot more links between a variety of topics in your notes.
Folder notes are a little-known function in Obsidian. Despite this, they’re a very capable feature for organisation and creativity. I hope this article has provided value as to you how folder notes might improve your productivity.